Chapter 54 Section IX

Zichen Palace. "The envoy of Xuanxia Kingdom has an audience—" Because the national power of the Xixia Kingdom is not capable of fighting the Song Dynasty for a long time, the two sides are at war, and the economic exchanges are cut off.Use the victory of local battles to strive for substantive interests on the negotiating table.Therefore, with Xining's great victory in the spring of the fourth year, the envoys of the Xixia Kingdom came to Bianjing again, "begging" for peace. "Long live, long live, long live, His Majesty the Great Song Emperor!" The envoy was very dark and wore a brocade robe.Shi Yue read his profile and knew that his Chinese name was Li Taichen.

After the cumbersome etiquette, Li Taichen respectfully handed in his credentials, which the Ministry of Education had already read, and today is just a formal reply. The request of the Xixia Kingdom is to ask the Song Dynasty to "return" Suizhou City and resume trade, and Xixia will still be a vassal to the Song Dynasty. The imperial edict officially answered by the emperor was very simple and impatient: "The edict has been issued before, not to mention Jiaosaimen, Anyuan Second Village, and Suizhou will not be returned. How can we discuss it now! Don't take an oath once the boundaries are determined. On the day of the watch, the oath will be issued, and the gift will remain the same."

The edict directly told the Xixia Kingdom that Suizhou would not give it, so cut down the nonsense. The diplomatic strategy of the "Wang Anshi Cabinet" is to take a defensive position against Liao and take an offensive against Xixia. Wang Shao has just been appointed to preside over military affairs in the Northwest and strives to make progress. intolerable. Li Taichen knew this answer a long time ago, and he just wanted to make a final lobbying call for this formal summons. "Your Majesty, I have heard that China is a country of benevolent people. Prime Minister Wang has always studied "Lao Tzu". You should know that only a benevolent person can make big things small. Please also treat my small country with a benevolent heart."

Wang Yu sneered and said: "The emissary knows that only the benevolent can make big things small, but can you know that only wise people can make small things big?" There was a threat in the words. Shi Yue shook his head secretly in his heart: his army was defeated by others, how could he threaten them to make a big deal out of a small matter? Sure enough, Li Taichen smiled noncommittally, and said to him from left to right: "Your Majesty, there are quite a few rare and rare treasures in the items that I have paid tribute this time, can I let you explain them to Your Majesty one by one to show the sincerity of our monarch and ministers? "

Everyone didn't know what kind of medicine Li Taichen sold in the gourd. He deliberately asked to see the emperor, was it to explain the tribute? Zhao Xu thought for a while, and finally he couldn't be too stingy and lose the demeanor of a big country, so he nodded and said, "Then present it." Li Taichen took out a gift list from his sleeve, and read it respectfully: "The King Xia of our country presents a tribute to the Emperor Song: fifty catties of gold, fifty catties of silver, fifty beauties from the Western Regions, and ten thousand-mile horses. , ten precious swords..." Shi Yue and Wang Yu listened carefully to him reading the long list of gifts, while guessing Li Taichen's intentions, but they didn't find anything special until he finished reading.

After Li Taichen finished reading, he took a look at the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty, and said slowly: "These gifts, the Song Dynasty is a kingdom of heaven, most of them are there, there are only a few, but they are not in the kingdom of heaven, and they are special products of our country. " Zhao Xu looked at Wang Anshi with doubts, and he didn't know which of these gifts Da Song didn't have. Wang Anshi sneered and said, "Is there anything that I don't have in the land of the summers in China. I would like to ask the envoy, what are some things that I don't have in China?"

Li Taichen said with a smile, "It's the steed and sword." All the courtiers in the palace burst into laughter except for Shi Yue and Wang Yu, but Shi Yue and Wang Yu had a rare tacit understanding and looked at each other with vigilance in their hearts. "This kind of thing, my heavenly dynasty has everything." Li Taichen pretended to be surprised and asked: "Oh? I'm afraid the good horses and precious swords presented by our country are different from the things in China." "What's the difference? I'd like to ask for advice." "The good horses presented by our country can travel thousands of miles a day and eight hundred nights. They are unstoppable in battle with armor. Although our country is small, there are tens of thousands of knights in armor. Everyone has this good horse. In our country, I have never I heard that the middle land has it! The precious sword presented by our country cuts iron like mud, and is unparalleled in sharpness. Although our country is small, there are hundreds of thousands of people holding the knife. Everyone has this knife. I have never heard of it in my country. Middle Earth has it!" Li Taichen talked eloquently, with a respectful expression, but his eyes were full of pride and disdain.

These words are clearly a threat. How can the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty fail to understand the truth?Wang Yu couldn't hold back anymore, and said coldly: "The envoy is lonely and seldom heard, and he is really arrogant when he calls China's unscrupulous horses and treasures." Li Taichen took a look at Wang Yu, and said with a mocking smile: "This must be the son of Prime Minister Wang, who is not yet crowned, but wants to caress the Tao River. He has great ambitions, and I have heard about it for a long time since I was in Xia Kingdom." .However, what I said is definitely not in vain. There are precious swords and good horses, so you can give it a try."

Since he wanted to challenge, the emperors and ministers of the Song Dynasty did not want to show weakness, so some guards with swords came over to take the precious swords tribute from Xixia, and someone took out a pair of armor, and an envoy took the sword under the supervision of the guards. The armor was just a knife, and the blade passed by, cutting the armor in half. Immediately, the emperors and ministers of the Great Song Dynasty in the hall were silent, and Li Taichen was triumphant. Those guards with knives were not convinced, someone pulled out a knife, and cut the armor in half with the same knife.After this knife, the situation immediately reversed, Li Taichen was dumbfounded, and the emperor of Song Dynasty was very proud.

How can Li Taichen be convinced?He walked up to the guard and asked, "Can I borrow a knife to take a look?" The guard glanced at the emperor, Zhao Xu was happy, and said with a smile, "It's okay to show him." The guard then handed the knife to Li Taichen. Li Taichen took the knife and looked at it, he couldn't help laughing. Wang Anshi was annoyed at his rudeness, and shouted sharply, "Presumptuous!" Li Taichen gently returned the knife to the guard, bowed to the emperor, and said with a smile: "I lost my temper just now, please forgive me. It's just that I don't know one thing. Is the sword that the guard wears made in China or Dali?" Tribute?" It turned out that the swords of the guards were all treasured swords brought in tribute from Dali.

Seeing Li Taichen boasting that he was always good at debating, Wang Yu sneered slightly and said, "Don't be arrogant, the envoy, I am a country of benevolence and righteousness in China, and I put etiquette and justice first, not Bill and other small countries who care about these strange tricks and obscenity. If you want to know whether the Chinese soldiers are good enough or not, you will give you the answer on the battlefield. Go back and tell your lord that if he really wants to surrender, I will treat him as always in Song Dynasty; if you want Suizhou City, you can do it Send troops to take it, and you don't have to use your tongue." These words were not only the national policy of the Song Dynasty at that time, but also the strong proposition that Wang Yu held throughout his life. Li Taichen pursed his lips slightly, and wanted to say something else. Wang Anshi was afraid that he would say something that would frustrate the confidence of the emperor and ministers of the Song Dynasty, so he winked at the ceremonial officer, and hurriedly ended the interview.